Customer Reviews

An Autobiographical Study (The Standard Edition) (Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Almost one hundred years ago to the month (November 1899), Freud published his landmark book, "The Interpretation of Dreams," in German. The world hasn't been the same since then. No matter what you think of him (many who dislike Freud base their views on what others have said about him or done with his theories), he changed the concept of what it means to be a human being. This long essay (it runs 95 pages with index) came out in 1925, when he was at the height of his fame. It recounts the development of his career and his theories of sexual development. As such it provides an overview of the subjects for which he became famous. It isn't a personal book, concentrating on professional rather than personal associations. I would call it an intellectual memoir--but whatever you call it, it is well worth reading.

Am I a Freudian? Definitely not. But my life as many in the western world was and still is impacted positively by his understandings and writings.
Freud's short work"An Autobiographical Study" is a good introduction or review, either, into his, as stated in the translator's note, "professional rather than personal" history. It was penned for inclusion into a larger work setting forth the state of medicine in the early years of the century. It was subsequently reprinted with his "The Problem of Lay-Analysis". Here published separately, it includes a postscript written by Freud in 1935, four years before his death.
The type size, face and paper color of this edition make easy reading even for these old eyes of mine.
I found it a quick read, footnoted where necessary, and insightful. It is a good place to begin a study of Freud or psychoanalysis. In chronological order Freud explains the beginning and growth of the key fundamental elements of psychoanalysis and techniques of it's practice. He further shows how his understandings had become a part of many other academic disciplines and places in ordinary life.

Freud's autobiography focuses more on the history of psychoanalysis than on himself. He does not divulge many day to day things. Some of the more interesting parts of the book regard his identification as a Jew, and how it liberated him from orthodoxy, made him an outsider from the start, as well as his identification more with the study of the mind as opposed to biological psychiatry itself, from the start. Also interesting is his tendency to put himself in the background--noting that the development of psychoanalysis is due to its inherent value rather than any personal attractions he might have had as a person. Freud takes obvious pride in his description of psychoanalysis from the early days to its worldwide success at the time of the writing. He also mentions in passing some of his interactions with such luminaries as William James suffering angina, Jung, Breur who continuously criticized psychoanalysis yet seemed to regard himself as an adherent, and Stanley Hall, then president of Clark who brought Freud to America. He also describes the development of his ideas, mentioning in passing such essays as "Obsessive Acts and Religious Practices" and "Wit and the relationship to the unconscious." This is a bite size book, essential for anyone interested psychoanalysis, nicely and elegantly translated from the German, and an interesting parting note from one of the most significant inventors of modern culture.